elint warnings

elint warnings

[Sebastien Vauban]

Hello,

When elint'ing simple .emacs files such as:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(when (require 'package)

  ;; archives from which to fetch
  (setq package-archives
        (append '(("org"       . "http://orgmode.org/elpa/")
                  ("melpa"     . "http://melpa.milkbox.net/packages/")
                  ("marmalade" . "http://marmalade-repo.org/packages/")
                  ("ELPA"      . "http://tromey.com/elpa/"))
                package-archives))

  ;; ...

  )

;; ensure a file ends in a newline when it is saved
(setq require-final-newline t)
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

I get hundreds of warnings (in the real case, with many more lines in my
.emacs file), such as:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
Linting d:/Users/fni/src/emacs-leuven/elint.el

In top level expression:
elint.el:1:Warning: Setting previously unbound symbol: package-archives
elint.el:1:Warning: Reference to unbound symbol: package-archives

In top level expression:
elint.el:16:Warning: Setting previously unbound symbol: require-final-newline

Linting finished.
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

I don't understand them: why is `package-archives' said to be unknown, while
it will only execute after the lib `package' has been loaded?

So, elint does not load the packages?  Then, what's the purpose of elint?  Why
real warnings should I be aware of (and how)?

Best regards,
  Seb

-- 
Sebastien Vauban

Re: elint warnings

[Stefan Monnier]

> (when (require 'package)

I'm not very familiar with elint, but at least the byte compiler will
issue similar warnings because it only processes `require' statements
that are at the top-level rather than within a `when' or some other
such construct.  So maybe you want to do

   (require 'package)
   (when (featurep 'package)

instead.  Of course, after (require 'package) you actually know that
(featurep 'package) is true (otherwise it would have signaled an error
rather than returning).  So I assume you mean (require 'package nil t).

   
        Stefan